Posted on April 12

Happy Fortune Friday all –  

As a reminder, our season will end on April 21. I want to start with some good news that most of you have probably noticed if you have skied in the last week. We had originally planned to close Olympic Express Chair on April 8, but the conditions on that terrain have been so great that we kept it open though this past week and will continue for the upcoming weekend. I snuck out on Tuesday for a few laps and saw first-hand how good the spring skiing was on Olympic Downhill. After this weekend, we’ll be continuing with the spring ramp down plan and Stagecoach, Comet, Canyon, and Groove chairs will close for season. Groove Terrain Park will continue to stay open through the rest of the season with access from Patsy’s. Groove chair may operate if needed for end-of-day egress. You will still be able to ski from California to the Top of Gondola and Dipper and back to CA, however all access to lower Nevada will be roped off for your safety as we will start plowing the summer road on Monday. 

I wanted to briefly outline some of the successes of our reservation-based parking program at California Base Area. We saw some key positive changes related to traffic mitigation, including a high adoption of carpooling: 65% of guests that parked at California Lodge carpooled and parked for free. This is exactly what we were hoping for when we implemented the program. More carpool vehicles = fewer vehicles on the road = better flow of traffic into the resort. Additionally, we saw a 60% reduction in frequency and severity of travel time delays at Heavenly’s California Base Area. I want to thank everyone for working with us on this program. I realize it took some change in routines and a little extra effort, but ultimately it did make access in and around Cal Base better on peak days.  Due to the end-of-season slowdown, we won’t need reservations for the last two weekends of the year. Anyone who booked a non-carpool reservation and already paid the fee will be refunded. 

Last weekend we planned to do our final event of the season, Pond Skim, but Mother Nature didn't want to cooperate, and it was unseasonably cold. That really didn’t feel like the right conditions for a Pond Skim, so we postponed it until tomorrow. Hopefully the sun will come out for us! Either way, it’s “game on” and having been around these pond skims for over 40 years, I know there will be a lot of fun, energy, and excitement as people slide across a pond on one or two planks, or at least try to! 

Thanks again for another exciting season. I’ll be back with a Fortune Friday recapping and reminiscing on the season soon and other exciting things to come. Until then, enjoy the last of the spring skiing and riding and get ready for summer! 

See you on the slopes, 

Tom